Competition Idiosyncrasies:

Everyone in the world is different and unique from one another. We all have our own little quirks and idiosyncrasies that make us who we are. Weightlifter are no different. Every Weightlifter in the World has their own little routine and setup before they lift on the platform. Some are quiet and intrinsic, while others are load and vocal. We have all developed our own method and way that works for us to approach the bar in competition.

My routine starting over 25 years ago at my first big National meet back in South Africa. Up until that point I had only competed in small local and state tournaments. My name was called, I stepped up to the platform for my first snatch. I crouched down, took my grip and began to pull the bar off the ground. Right as started pulling the bar the loudest most obnoxious sound rang out through the hall. (It kind of sounded like the noise Jim Carey makes in Dumb and Dumber when they are in the truck playing the MOST ANNOYING SOUND IN THE WORLD GAME )

Needless to say, I was completely put off and missed my first attempt. I stormed off the platform and said to my coach, “WTF” was that?

It was then that I learned of the “30 second Buzzer”. At big national and International meets there is a buzzer that goes off at the 30 second mark to inform the lifter that they have 30 seconds left to lift the weight. Right then and there, I decided that I would never again be distracted by the buzzer, and that’s where my now infamous “Walk behind the platform” originated. To this day, over 25 years later, I still set up to lift the same way.

After the clock is set to 1 min and my name has been announced as the next lifter on the platform, I start walking behind the platform. 5 paces one way, 5 paces the other. I then stop and wait, standing behind the platform for the 30 second buzzer to go off before I walk on the platform. This is the routine I still do to this day.

                                            watch this for perfect example of the walk

This is not my only Quirk/Idiosyncrasy I have on the platform. I am extremely OCD about the loading of the weights. Let me explain. Olympic Bumper plates have a solid silver disk on the inside of the Bumper, and on the other side the rivets are showing.

                                                please NO, Just NO RIVETTTTTTTTS!!!!!!!

Now as long as I have been lifting I have always been taught that the ‘rivets’ are to be facing the outside, so that the lifter only sees the shinny silver side of the bumper plate. When crouching down to take your grip to lift it can be very off putting to have the weights loaded with the weights loaded rivets in, or heaven forbid they actually load the weights with one side out, and the other side in. Now for someone with OCD, this is exasperated exponentially. (ME)

So last week Ted D’Amico and myself competed in the New Jersey Outdoor Weightlifting Championships. To say I was “Out of my element” would be an understatement. Not because the meet was outdoors, or that is was over 100 degrees outside that day. No, it was for the very reasons I have mentioned above.

 

Because of the limited lifting space outdoors, there was nowhere for me to do my walk before I lift. The weights too were loaded with one side ‘in’ and the other ‘out’. I asked the announcer if they could get the weights changed, which they kindly did. However, they inexplicably changed them so that both rivets where facing in. 

                                                                       no fricken rivets

By the time my turn came to lift my head was all over the place. I had nowhere to walk, and I was eyeing those rivets out like the wart on your one friend’s forehead whom you’ve always wondered “why didn’t they just get it removed”. So inevitably I missed my first two opening attempts on the snatch.

I came back to make my third snatch, and decided to open lower in the Clean and Jerk because I new my head wasn’t in the game.

Now make no mistake, none of these are any excuse for missing lifts or getting upset over. I was never upset; I was simply out of my comfort zone. I was unable to perform my usual set up routines and it completely screwed me up. I am more than happy that I even managed to get a total on the day, let alone a medal.

18 years ago the same thing happened to me at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. It was the first time I had lifted on a platform with a Camera right in the center of it, staring up your fricken nostrils. I couldn’t concentrate, I lost focus and ended up Bombing out of a tournament which at the time was my biggest international to date.

Now all of that being said, here is the ironic part. Last weeks meet was probably the most memorable and challenging meet I have lifted in for over a decade. Lifting outdoors was awesome, and having my own compulsiveness put to the test, challenged me in ways on the platform that I have never experienced before. I learned more about myself as a lifter at this meet than I ever have.

Do I want to do it again next week, probably not, but I am a better lifter for having experienced it?

You are never to old to learn a thing or two about yourself. The day you stop learning, is the day you die.  And I ain't done learning yet.